Level wind spooling device with a stabilizing housing

ABSTRACT

The level wind spooling apparatus includes a spooling shaft mounted in a spooling device housing and connected to apparatus operable to rotate the spooling shaft. The outer cylindrical surface of the spooling shaft has formed therein a pair of compound threads including a right-hand thread and a left-hand thread, each thread having the same pitch. The root and side walls of each thread form a continuous cam track extending along the length of the spooling shaft. A cam track follower assembly mounted on the spooling shaft includes an actuator positioned in one of the cam tracks to guide the follower assembly longitudinally along the shaft during rotation of the shaft and operable to transfer, at either end of the shaft, to the oppositely oriented cam track for guidance of the follower assembly in a reverse direction longitudinally along the shaft to the other end thereof. The housing substantially encloses the spooling shaft and follower assembly along the length of the shaft. A longitudinal slot extends along the front of the housing to permit the passage along the housing of a flexible strand guide assembly connected to the follower assembly within the housing. A plurality of stabilizing guide members are secured in spaced relation with each other to the inside surfaces of the housing walls and extend inwardly therefrom adjacent to preselected portions of the external surfaces of the follower assembly and are arranged to guide and stabilize the follower assembly in its traverse along the spooling shaft. The housing walls form a substantially enclosed container for lubricating material for the spooling shaft, the surfaces of the guide members and the follower assembly.

United States Patent [1 1 Petry LEVEL WIND SPOOLING DEVICE WITH A STABILIZING HOUSING Eston F. Petry, McMurray, Pa.

Consolidation Coal Company, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Filed: June 14, 1972 Appl. No.: 262,476

Inventor:

Assignee:

HS. Cl. 242/1583, 74/57 Int. Cl B65h 57/28 Field of Search 242/1583, 43, 158.2,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,401,894 9/l968 Campbell, Jr 242/1583 X FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 802,430 10/1958 Great Britain 242/1583 Primary ExaminerStanley N. Gilreath Attorney-D. Leigh Fowler, Jr. et a].

[57] ABSTRACT shaft has formed therein a pair of compound threads including a right-hand thread and a left-hand thread, each thread having the same pitch. The root and side walls of each thread form a continuous cam track extending along the length of the spooling shaft. A cam track follower assembly mounted on the spooling shaft includes an actuator positioned in one of the cam tracks to guide the follower assembly longitudinally along the shaft during rotation of the shaft and operable to transfer, at either end of the shaft, to the oppositely orientedcam track for guidance of the follower assembly in a reverse direction longitudinally along the shaft to the other end thereof. The housing substantially encloses the spooling shaft and follower assembly along the length of the shaft. A longitudinal slot extends along the front of the housing to permit the passage along the housing of a flexible strand guide assembly connected to the follower assembly within the housing. A plurality of stabilizing guide members are secured in spaced relation with each other to the inside surfaces of the housing walls and extend inwardly therefrom adjacent to preselected portions of the external surfaces of the follower assembly and are arranged to guide and stabilize the follower assembly in its traverse along the spooling shaft. The housing walls form a substantially enclosed container for lubricating material for the spooling shaft, the surfaces of the guide members and the follower assembly.

2 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures 4 4 52 so 4 k\\ 74 IO m 25 3o Q 7 c i 1 i i 3 l a2. 40 88 21:} 5 I l 32 38 Q 76 26 \86 s4e:\ 4 1/ E 2 PATENTED N 74 om wv LEVEL WIND SPOOILING DEVICE WITH A STABILIZING HOUSING BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a level wind spooling device for distributing a flexible strand along more than one length of traverse and more particularly to a spooling device having a housing enclosing the spooling shaft and follower assembly and including a plurality of guide members arranged to stabilize the follower assembly during its traverse.

2. Description of the Prior Art Level wind devices for winding flexible strands on a spool by distributing the flexible strand along more than one length of the spooling device are known. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,134,369; 1,875,467; 890,213; 1,632,875 and 2,962,906 all disclose a double threaded spooling shaft with a follower assembly that reverses direction at the ends of the shaft. U. S. Pat. No. 2,801,534 discloses a spooling device having a cylindrical shell with a longitudinal groove. The shell surrounds the threaded length of the spooling shaft. A cylindrical follower carriage, extending around the external surface of the cylindrical shell, travels longitudinally along the shell while guided by a thread follower member. The thread follower member extends inwardly from the external follower carriage through the longitudinal opening in the shell and is operatively positioned on the spooling shaft thread.

Substantially all of the prior art discloses some guide assembly attached to the frame of the spooling device external to the follower assembly and the spooling shaft to prevent twisting and rotation of the follower assembly during its traverse. U. S. Pat. Nos. 890,213; 1,632,875; 1,875,467 and 2,801,534 disclose a single guide rod on which the follower assembly is slidably mounted and US. Pat. No. 1,935,585; 2,134,369; 2,962,906 and 3,587,994 disclose a double guide rod assembly.

Thereis a need for a simply constructed level wind spooling device having stabilizing members which prevent or lessen the application of any radial components of internally or externally applied forces to the spooling shaft, with the spooling shaft, follower assembly and stabilizing members enclosed to prevent the accumulation of dirt and debris on the working elements and to provide effective lubricating means for those structural elements. 1

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a level wind spooling device for distributing a flexible strand along more than one length of traverse. The spooling shaft has a generally cylindrical outer surface with a compound thread formed therein, each thread having a preselected pitch to form a spiral cam track in the outer surface of the shaft. A strand distributing means includes a cam track follower assembly having actuator means positioned in one of the cam tracks of the spooling shaft that is operable upon rotation of the shaft to move longitudinally in one of the cam tracks in a first direction to the end ofthe shaft and thereafter move in the other cam track of the shaft in the opposite direction to the other end of the shaft. The housing of the spooling device encloses the length of the spooling shaft and the cam follower assembly. A plurality of guide members are mounted within the housing in spaced relation around the outer surfaces of the cam follower assembly. The lower portion of the housing forms a chamber for lubricating material that lubricates the spooling shaft, the follower assembly and the guide members.

It is an object of this invention to provide a level wind spooling apparatus having its principal working elements protected against dirt and contamination by a housing substantially enclosing the spooling shaft, follower assembly and stabilizer members.

It is another object of this invention to provide a level wind spooling apparatus in which radial and torsional forces applied to the follower assembly are offset by stabilizing guide members coacting with the follower assembly to prevent those radial and torsional forces from being transmitted to the spooling shaft.

These and other objects of this invention will be more completely disclosed and described in the following specification, the accompanying drawings and the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a top plan view with a portion of the cover DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to the drawings, a level wind spooling device indicated generally by the numeral 10 includes a spooling shaft l2 having a substantially cylindrical outer surface 14 with a right-handed and left-handed compound thread formed therein. A right-hand cam track 16 is formed by the right-hand thread and a lefthand cam track 18 is formed by the left-hand thread on the spooling shaft 12. The spooling shaft 12 is rotatably mounted by suitable means in a housing assembly generally designated by the numeral 38.

A cam track follower assembly indicted generally by the numeral 20 has a bore 22 extending therethrough. The spooling shaft 12 extends through the bore 22 and the follower assembly is mounted thereon and is operable to move longitudinally back and fourth between the ends of spooling shaft 12. The follower assembly 20 has a mounting plate 25 suitably secured to the top portion thereof. An actuator 24 is rotatably mounted on the underside of the mounting plate 25 within the follower assembly 20. The actuator 24 is positioned in one of the spooling thread cam tracks 16 and 18. Upon rotation of the spooling shaft, the actuator 24 follows the path of one of the cam tracks l6 and 18 to guide the follower assembly 20 in its traverse longitudinally along the spooling shaft 12 to an end of the spooling shaft 12 where the actuator 24 is transferred from one of the cam tracks 16 or 18 into the other cam track 16 or 118 to propel the follower assembly 20 in its traverse along the spooling shaft 12 to the other end thereof.

A flexible strand guide assembly indicated generally by reference numeral 26 includes a generally U-shaped guide 28 mounted in and extending upwardly from a strand guide base member 30. The base member 30 is connected by means of horizontal member 32, vertical member 34 and horizontal member 36 to the upper wall surface of the cam track follower assembly 20. Although illustrated as separate members, it should be understood that the strand guide base member 30 and connecting members 32, 34 and 36 could be formed as a single metallic member. The connecting members 32, 34 and 36 are suitably connected to each other to the strand guide base portion 30 and cam. track follower assembly by welds or the like.

The housing assembly generally indicated by the ref erence numeral 38 encloses the spooling shaft 12 and the follower assembly 20. The housing 38 has a closure end plate 54 that is suitably connected to a mounting bracket 15. The end plate 54 has extending therethrough bores 70 for alignment with similar bores in the spooling device mounting bracket 15. The other end of the housing 38 is suitably closed by another end plate 56.

The housing assembly 38 includes a rear vertical wall 40, a bottom wall 42 and a top cover 44. The top cover is suitably bolted to the housing 38. The bottom wall 42 and top cover 44 have ports 46 and 48 therein with threaded plugs 50 and 52 secured in each of the ports. The housing 38 end walls 54 and 56 are suitably connected to the rear vertical wall 40 and bottom wall 42. Each of the end walls 54 and 56 have bores 58 and 60 therein in which the end of the spooling shaft 12 is rotatably mounted in suitable bearings.

The bottom wall 42 has an upwardly extending flange 72 also referred to as the lower front wall 72 that forms a portion of the front wall of housing 38, The lower front wall 72 terminates at an elevation below the top cover 44.

The top cover 44 has a depending upper front wall 74 that extends downwardly in parallel spaced relation to the front wall 72 to form an elongated slot 76 therebetween. The connecting members 36 and 34 extend through the slot 76 to connect the follower assembly 20 positioned within the housing 38 to the guide base member positioned externally of the housing 38.

The housing 38 with the slot 76 is constructed to protect the internal portion of the housing from contamination by coal dust and the like due to the overhanging arrangement of upper front wall 74. in operation the strand guide assembly 26 with its attached connecting members 32, 34 and 36 freely traverses the slot 76 in the housing assembly 38.

A plurality of elongated stabilizing guide members 80, 82, 84, 86 and 88 are secured as by welding or the like to the interior surfaces of the walls of the housing 38. Each of the stabilizing guide members extends inwardly from the inner surface of the respective wall toward a preselected portion of the outer surface of follower assembly 20. The stabilizing guide members 80, 82, 84, 86 and 88 are positioned adjacent to and in substantial abutting relation with the surface portions of the follower assembly 20. It should be noted that the stabilizing guide member 80 is connected to the undersurface of the top cover 44 and the depending front wall 74 adjacent to the strand guide connecting member 36. I

The housing 38 provides a chamber 78 for lubricating material. A reservoir of lubricating oil is maintained in chamber 78 to continuously lubricate the spooling shaft 12, the enclosed portions of follower assembly 20 and the contact areas between the stabilizing guide members 82, 84, 86 and 88 and the adjacent external area portions of the follower assembly 20. Lubricating oil can be added as required to chamber 78 through the port 48 and withdrawn through port 46 in the housing assembly cover 44 and bottom wall 42 respectively.

According to the provisions of the patent statutes, I

have explained the principle, preferred construction and mode of operation of my invention and illustrated and described what I now consider to represent its best embodiment. It should be expressly understood, however, that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated.

I claim:

l. A level wind spooling device with a stabilizing housing comprising,

a spooling shaft having a cylindrical outer surface with a pair of threads formed in said outer surface, each thread having a preselected pitch and forming a spiral cam track in said shaft cylindrical outer surface,

a cam track follower mounted on the spooling shaft and operable upon rotation of the spooling shaft to move longitudinally therealong in one end of said shaft and thereafter to move longitudinally in the other direction along said shaft, said cam track follower having a generally rectangular configuration in elevation with a front wall and rear wall,

a housing enclosing said spooling shaft and said cam track follower, said housing having a front bottom wall and a rear wall,

a first rigid elongated bar extending the length of said housing and secured within said housing to said housing front wall,

said first bar having a generally rectangular configuration in elevation and having a vertical surface in substantially abutting relation with said cam track follower front wall,

a second rigid elongated bar extending the length of said housing and secured within said housing to said housing rear Wall, said second bar having a generally rectangular configuration in elevation and having a vertical surface in substantially abutting relation with said cam track follower rear wall, and

said first and second bars operable to stabilize said cam track follower during traverse of said cam track follower on said spooling shaft.

2. A level wind spooling device with a stabilizing housing as set forth in claim 1 in which,

said housing includes a top cover positioned in overlying relation with said housing front and rear walls,

said housing front bottom wall extending upwardly and terminating at a location below said top cover of said housing,

said top cover having a depending front wall positioned in spaced relation to said upwardly extending front wall and forming a longitudinal slot therebetween. 

1. A level wind spooling device with a stabilizing housing comprising, a spooling shaft having a cylindrical outer surface with a pair of threads formed in said outer surface, each thread having a preselected pitch and forming a spiral cam track in said shaft cylindrical outer surface, a cam track follower mounted on the spooling shaft and operable upon rotation of the spooling shaft to move longitudinally therealong in one end of said shaft and thereafter to move longitudinally in the other direction along said shaft, said cam track follower having a generally rectangular configuration in elevation with a front wall and rear wall, a housing enclosing said spooling shaft and said cam track follower, said housing having a front bottom wall and a rear wall, a first rigid elongated bar extending the length of said housing and secured within said housing to said housing front wall, said first bar having a generally rectangular configuration in elevation and having a vertical surface in substantially abutting relation with said cam track follower front wall, a second rigid elongated bar extending the length of said housing and secured within said housing to said housing rear wall, said second bar having a generally rectangular configuration in elevation and having a vertical surface in substantially abutting relation with said cam track follower rear wall, and said first and second bars operable to stabilize said cam track follower during traverse of said cam track follower on said spooling shaft.
 2. A level wind spooling device with a stabilizing housing as set forth in claim 1 in which, said housing includes a top cover positioned in overlying relation with said housing front and rear walls, said housing front bottom wall extending upwardly and terminating at a location below said top cover of said housing, said top cover having a depending front wall positioned in spaced relation to said upwardly extending front wall and forming a longitudinal slot therebetween. 